Pallet

ABSTRACT

A pallet adapted to be handled by a fork lift truck has an upper and a lower deck connected by side walls each having a pair of spaced openings for fork tines with the openings in opposite side walls being in alignment and each quarter of the pallet having a pair of said openings. Using imaginary planes perpendicular to the decks and bisecting the sides to divide the pallet into quarters, each quarter of the pallet has four hollow generally Lshaped columns disposed generally at the four corners of a rectangle with three of the colums being adjacent the sides of openings in the side walls and one being located adjacent the center of the pallet. One side of each column is generally aligned with the side of one opening in said quarter and a second side of each column is generally aligned with a side of the other opening in the same quarter to provide for guidance of the fork tines. Hollow depending ribs extend between each adjacent column in each quarter. Arcuate ribs extend from each column in the direction of the diagonally opposed column in said quarter. At least one arcuate rib parallel to the pallet side walls extends from each column in the direction of each adjacent column in each quarter.

United States Patent [191 Freund 1 June 5, 1973 Pennsylvania Pacific Corporation, Warminster, Pa.

22 Filed: Apr. 27, 1972 [21] Appl.No.: 248,037

[73] Assignee:

[52] US. Cl ..108/58, 108/51 [51] Int. Cl. ..B05d 19/38 [58] Field of Search ..1 51 53 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,404,642 10/1968 Belcher et al ..108/58 X 3,424,110 1/1969 Toot ..l08/53 3,187,691 6/1965 Leitzel i 108/58 3,228,358 1/1966 Sepe et al. ..l08/58 3,467,032 9/1969 Rowlands et al. .....108/51 3,611,952 10/1971 Hoffman 108/58 3,561,375 2/1971 Hammond ..108/53 3,667,403 6/1972 Angelbeck, Jr. .....108/58 Primary Examiner-James T. McCall Assistant ExaminerGlenn O. Finch Attorney-George J. Harding, Ill, and Smith, Harding, Earley & Follmer [57] ABSTRACT A pallet adapted to be handled by a fork lift truck has an upper and a lower deck connected by side walls each having a pair of spaced openings for fork tines with the openings in opposite side walls being in alignment and each quarter of the pallet having a pair of said openings. Using imaginary planes perpendicular to the decks and bisecting the sides to divide the pallet' into quarters, each quarter of the pallet has four hollow generally L-shaped columns disposed generally at the four corners of a rectangle with three of the colums being adjacent the sides of openings in the side walls and one being located adjacent the center of the pallet. One side of each column is generally aligned with the side of one opening in saidquarter and a second side of each column is generally aligned with a side of the other opening in the same quarter to provide for guidance of the fork tines. Hollow depending ribs extend between each adjacent column in each quarter. Arcuate ribs extend from each column in the direction of the diagonally opposed column in said quarter. At least one arcuate rib parallel to the pallet side walls extends from each column in the direction of each adjacent column in each quarter.

1 Claim, 10 Drawing Figures PATENTEUJUH 5197s SHEET 10F 4 FIG.

PATENTEDJUH 5 I973 SHEET 4 UF 4 FIG. 8.

JR. --J

FIG. 9.

Fl G. 7.

FIG. IO.

PALLET BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Pallets adapted to be used with fork lift trucks in the handling and storage of goods are old. The object of the present invention is to create a relatively light loadbearing pallet which is structurally sound for high static loading in storage and lifting by fork lift equipment, and particularly such a pallet which can be produced by conventional molding techniques, although the pallet of the invention need not necessarily be formed by molding.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with this invention a pallet adapted for use with a fork lift truck has an upper and lower deck connected by side walls each having a pair of spaced openings for fork tines with the openings in opposite side walls being in alignment and each quarter of the pallet having a pair of said openings. Each quarter of the pallet has four hollow generally L-shaped columns disposed generally at the four corners of a rectangle with three of the columns being adjacent the sides of openings in the side walls and one being located adjacent the center of the pallet. One side of each column is generally aligned with the side of one opening in said quarter and a second side of said column is generally aligned with a side of the other opening in the same quarter to provide for guidance of the fork tines. Hollow depending ribs extend between each adjacent column in said quarter. Arcuate ribs extend from each column in the direction of the diagonally opposed column in said quarter. At least one arcuate rib parallel to the pallet side walls extends from each column in the direction of each adjacent column in said quarter. Additional hollow columns may be added should additional strength be required.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a plan view of both the top and the bottom of a pallet in accordance with the invention which are identical;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of the pallet of FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is a rear elevation of the pallet of FIG. 1; FIG. 4 is a left side elevation of the pallet of FIG. 1; FIG. 5 is a right side elevation of the pallet of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a top perspective view of the pallet of FIG. 1 broken away and showing the structure of slightly more than one-quarter of the pallet;

FIG. 7 is a vertical section, partially broken away, taken on the plane indicated by the line 7-7 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a vertical section, partially broken away, taken on the plane indicated by the line 8-8 in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a vertical section, partially broken away, taken on the plane indicated by the line 9-9 in FIG. 1, and

FIG. 10 is a vertical section, partially broken away, taken on the plane indicated by the line 10-l0 in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A pallet 2 in accordance with the invention (FIG. 1) has an upper deck 4 and a lower deck 5 (FIG. 8) and side walls 6, 8, 10 and 12 (FIGS. 2-5) connecting upper deck 4 and lower deck 5. Wall 6 (FIG. 2) has tine openings 14 and 16 which are respectively in alignment with tine openings 18 and 20 in wall 8. Similarly, wall 10 has tine openings 22 and 24 which are respectively in alignment with tine openings 26 and 28 in wall 12.

Referring to the lower left hand quarter of pallet 2 as viewed in FIG. 1 which contains openings 14 and 24, it has four generally L-shaped hollow columns 34, 36, 38 and 40 which are disposed generally in the four corners of a rectangle. Walls 42, 44, 46 and 48 of columns 34, 36, 38 and 40 respectively are aligned with the sides of opening 14 to provide for the guidance of a tine. Similarly, walls 52, 54, 56 and 58 of the same column are aligned with the sides of opening 24 to provide for the guidance of a tine. Columns 34, 36, 38 and 40 extend between upper deck 4 and lower deck 6 and are integral therewith.

Depending hollow strengthening ribs 64, 66 and 68 extend between columns 34 and 36. Substantially identical ribs 74 and 76, 84 and 86, 94 and 96 extend respectively between columns 36 and 38, columns 38 and 40 and columns 40 and 34. Four additional ribs 98, 100, 102 and 104 are disposed in a square pattern surrounding the central portion of the quarter. Depending arcuate strengthening ribs and 112 extend from column 34 in the direction of column 36 and parallel to wall 6. Similarly, depending hollow arcuate strengthening ribs 114 and 116 extend from column 36 towards column 34 and parallel to wall 6. Ribs 118, 120 are parallel to ribs 112 and 114, substantially identical to these ribs and extend respectively from column 40 towards column 38 and from column 38 towards column 40. In a similar manner substantially identical depending arcuate hollow ribs 122, 124, 126 and 128 extend away from columns 34, 36, 38 and 40 respectively towards an adjacent column and parallel to wall 10. Depending arcuate strengthening ribs 132, 134, 136 and 138 extend respectively from columns 34, 36, 38 and 40 towards the diagonally opposite column respectively.

The corresponding parts of the other three quarters of the upper deck 4 of pallet 2 are identified with corresponding single, double and triple primed numbers. It will be understood that the foregoing description of the upper deck 4 is equally a complete description of the lower deck 5 which is identical to upper deck 4.

While not essential except for extra heavy loads, pallet 2 is provided with cylindrical columns 142, 144 and 146 which extend between upper deck and lower deck 5 and are integral therewith and with hollow columns 148 and 150 which likewise extend between upper deck 4 and lower deck 5 and are integral therewith.

Because of its structural features, the above described pallet lends itself to casting using well known procedures and may, for example, be formed of a synthetic resin such as, for example, polyethlene, polycarbonate, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene and polypropylene. Such a pallet is advantageous to food processors, pharmaceutical companies and the like since they are stean cleanable and hence sanitary, as well as rot and corrosion proof. While synthetic resins are preferred, the pallet of this invention may be formed from numerous other materials such as paper board, metal or a combination of a synthetic resin and fibreglass.

The pallet of the invention is light of structure and yet has great strength permitting the use of the pallet with very large loads. It is also advantageous in that there are no protrusions on either the top deck or the bottom deck providing for easy stacking of the pallets in storage and also permitting the placement of a loaded pallet on top of fragile loads such as bags or cartons on other pallets. The ribs markedly improve the transmission of forces exerted by the tines to the supporting deck.

It will be understood that the above described embodiment is by way of illustration and is not intended to be limiting.

' I claim:

1. A one piece cast synthetic resin pallet comprising:

an upper deck,

a lower deck,

side walls connecting said decks,

a pair of spaced openings for fork tines in each side, with the openings in opposite side walls being in alignment and each quarter of the pallet having a pair of said openings,

each quarter of the pallet having four hollow generally L-shaped columns connecting the decks disposed generally at the four corners of a rectangle with three of the columns being adjacent the sides of openings in the side walls and one being located adjacent the center of the pallet,

one side of each column being generally aligned with the side of one opening in said quarter and the second side of said column being generally aligned with a side of the other opening in said quarter to provide for guidance of fork tines,

hollow ribs extending inwardly from each deck between each adjacent column in said quarter,

said hollow ribs including at least one arcuate rib parallel to the pallet side walls and extending from each column in each quarter in the direction of each adjacent column in said quarter, and

arcuate ribs in each deck extending from each column in each quarter in the direction of the diagonally opposed column in said quarter. 

1. A one piece cast synthetic resin pallet comprising: an upper deck, a lower deck, side walls connecting said decks, a pair of spaced openings for fork tines in each side, with the openings in opposite side walls being in alignment and each quarter of the pallet having a pair of said openings, each quarter of the pallet having four hollow generally L-shaped columns connecting the decks disposed generally at the four corners of a rectangle with three of the columns being adjacent the sides of openings in the side walls and one being located adjacent the center of the pallet, one side of each column being generally aligned with the side of one opening in said quarter and the second side of said column being generally aligned with a side of the other opening in said quarter to provide for guidance of fork tines, hollow ribs extending inwardly from each deck between each adjacent column in said quarter, said hollow ribs including at least one arcuate rib parallel to the pallet side walls and extending from each column in each quarter in the direction of each adjacent column in said quarter, and arcuate ribs in each deck extending from each column in each quarter in the direction of the diagonally opposed column in said quarter. 